Notes from the Lease Extension Meeting

The Winchester Hall was packed to bursting on Tuesday 24 July evening when 90 local residents attended a presentation given by LEASE. Both the Lease extension and Collective Enfranchisement were discussed and a show of hands indicated equal interest in both options. The benefits of forming a group to share costs of the negotiations were discussed and next steps will be distributed to those who provided their contact details

Comments

We note the appearance of our presentational material and are content that you continue to use it , with the proviso that LEASE retains copyright to both presentations.

I should add that our address is 31 Worship Street , rather than 32 , and our telephone number is 020 7374 5380.

ANTHONY ESSIEN on 2007-08-17 11:54:19 +0000

I unfortunately missed July's meeting, but it looks like it was well received. From a practical point of view, I cannot fault the helpful service that lease-advice.org provides, but I wonder whether time was devoted to the "down-sides" of collective enfranchisement, from a day-to-day perspective.

Having considered enfranchising together with my neighbour (downstairs), I came to realise that the main reason for enfranchising would be to do away with the main grumble: inflated lease extension prices. The community action that started in Winchester Hall might solve that problem for St Margarets's residents.

In other respects, there are real benefits to remaining tenants rather than co-owners (in our particular case).

Our leases include the entire building from foundations (ground floor tenant) to roof (upstairs tenant), meaning we already have physical control of the bricks and mortar. We pay buildings insurance to a landlord who, we might assume, gets a block discount.

As co-owners, we would have to agree at every turn with our neighbours on issues like insurance, repair etc.

If my neighbour breaches covenants (for instance, damaging the fabric of the flat, or just doing something he shouldn't), I can rely on the landlord to sue him under the terms of the lease.

If I were co-owner, I (as co-owner and co-landlord) would have to sue my own neighbour and co-owner when he breached his covenants; hardly a recipe for healthy relations.

Enfranchisement certainly has its advantages, but it is not for everyone, and you should look at the advantages and disadvantages of your own position, and your own lease, before enfranchising. Are we prepared to take the rough (managing yourself and your neighbours) with the smooth?

Tim on 2007-09-17 12:51:45 +0000

I wonder whether anyone was able to recommend good surveyors at the meeting, specialising in enfranchisement and lease extension work?